Samantha's birth story

acutypie · February 2013

Samantha Rae was born on October 28, 2012, my due date was December 3, 2012. She came early and fast.

A week before she was born I woke up and got out of bed to let the dog out. As i walked to the front door I felt alot of liquid running down my legs. At first I thought I had lost control of my bladder but then when it just wouldn't stop and there was so much of it, i was convinced it was my water breaking. At 33 weeks and 5 days I knew it was much to early. I walked to the bathroom and turned on the light so I could see and to my horror I was covered in blood. It was everywhere. I immediately started yelling at my husband to wake up, that something was terribly wrong. We drove to the hospital where they checked me in and after what seemed forever, they found a heart beat. I was under observation that day and the next, the bleeding stopped and they had no clue what had caused it and why there was so much blood. I was sent home. The rest of the week I had numerous appt's with the dr and even a stress test that Friday and everything looked good.

A week exactly from that scare, I woke up in the middle of the night again. This time, i was having contractions. I was 34 weeks 5 days along. I woke up my husband and off we went to the hospital. At this point, there was no pain, just the tightening of my stomach. I wasn't taking any chances though. We were put in observation and I was given a shot to stop the contractions. I was not dialating at all but Sam's head was as low as it could go. We were sent home after a few hours.

I went home, showered, and took a nap. At around 6pm the contractions started up again but still no pain. Off we went to the hospital again for another shot to stop them. At this point I was now at 1cm. I was giving a shot and told to rest up and that I would be going home soon. At 8pm they checked me again and I was now at a 2cm. They decided to keep me a little longer. I was checked at 9pm and I was sttill at a 2cm. The Dr. wanted me to be checked in though. At this point I was in pain. The shot was not helping and the contractions were really starting to hurt. At about 9:30pm the nurse came in and checked me one last time before wheeling me into a delivery room. I was at a 4cm. I remember asking them for an epidural. The baby was coming. I had wanted to go med free, but I was in so much pain, I didn't think i could do it. The nurse told me that once I was admitted she would get me the epi.

It was a quick walk down the hall to the delivery room. Once there I was told to pee in a cup which I tried but could not do. It was 9:40pm and my husband went out to the hall to call our families. I remember sitting on the toilet and not wanting to get up. The nurse kept ordering me back into the bed and I kept asking for a little while longer to just sit there and relax.. The nurse then threatened to not order my epidural unless I got into the bed. So there I went. Once there she ordered me to lie down which was the most painful thing ever. almost immediately I had the worst contraction thus far. I rolled onto my side, which caused the monitors to be ripped off my belly. I remember the weirdest feeling ever. My stomach was pushing on its own. I told the nurse that I was pushing the baby out. She told me to lay back and that it was in my head. I was only 4cm and I had a long ways to go.

At this point I started crying and telling her that the baby was coming. She kept argueing with me. Finally another nurse stepped in and said that she would check me again. The first nurse told her not to bother that I had just been checked. Thankfully, the new nurse did not listen and checked me anyways. I was fully dialated and Sam's head was crowning. The next 10-15 minutes are a blur. I remember panic set in the room. There was no doctor. Mine was in traffic. The on call doctor was in another delivery and they were calling the ER doctor to come up. My doctor finally walked in and immediately told me to push with the next contraction. I did and I remember asking for my epi. Of course I wasn't going to get it. With the next contraction they told me to push again and I did a few times. Then they started telling me to just push one more time and with that, Samantha was born. 9:58pm, 4 pounds, 2 ounces. In less than half an hour i went from 4cm to her being born. It was surreal.

Samantha stayed in the NICU unit for 10 days. She was born healthy and breathing on her own. She did need a feeding tube to help her gain some weight. Her birth didn't go as planned, but other than being a little small at birth, she was absolutely perfect. As for the bleeding the week before, it turns out when I delivered the placentia they realized that half of it had already detached itself. Thats what caused the bleeding. The Dr. said had she not come when she did, there is a good chance we would have lost her and I could have bled out. I believe she knew something was wrong and thats why she came early.

svega232 · February 2013

Wow, that must have been scary. I'm so happy you and the baby are ok and thank god for the 2nd nurse that stepped in! Samantha already has good instincts

Congratulations!

katie51380 · February 2013

That sounds so terrifying! Thank goodness you both are okay. It is so emotional to read a story like yours, I'm glad she decided she needed to come early! Hope you are doing well and congrats!